[DannyBee]

I stopped reading at " It means that unlike gigantic employers in other times and places, the corporations of Silicon Valley aren’t much interested in improving public transport, and in fact the many corporations providing private transport are undermining the financial basis for the commuter train."

This is such complete bullshit i don't even know where to start. Every single company in the area has either offered to help, is helping, or had their help refused when it comes to public transport.

It's not even a Google vs Apple vs whoever, they are all trying to help here in any way they can.

Of course, since the author cites absolutely no statements or support for any of their claims, i'm just going to file this in the "not even wrong" category

[scarmig]

People are getting mighty touchy from this piece.

How is it bullshit? For one, cites on any of Google, Apple, Ebay, Facebook, etc. either offering to help or helping and getting rebuffed? A quick Google doesn't bring anything up, though I suspect I'm missing out on a key word.

But even granting that, the saying "the proof's in the pudding" is pretty relevant here. If it were a priority for them in the same way it was for corporations in the past, it would be done. But because of our current economic structure, corporations no longer feel strong incentives to build out public transit.

[DannyBee]

Look at public meeting minutes for various towns and you'll see it.

Past that, most of the companies do it smart, and let the towns take the credit, and keep the rest quiet.

It is a priority for them, but unlike in the past, if you tell san francisco you want to spend 50 million providing public bus service, their answer isn't "sign us the hell up", it's "sorry, no".

[SageRaven]

For the first time in my 40-something years on this planet, I utilized passenger rail in the US. I recently took a vacation on a leg of the California Zephyr Amtrak route (which goes from Chicago to San Francisco). During a wait one of the stations, I picked up copies of the industry rags. Though I never would have guessed, it seems that there are strong political and financial forces that are very much against a prolific public transit system in the US, with California being quite a battleground of the pro and anti crowds.

Whether or not the tech giants in Silicon Valley are in fact trying to improve the public transit situation, they have a steep hill to climb in order to make any progress.

Though I am constantly surprised by public transit initiatives in smaller inland cities. Salt Lake City has made substantial public transit improvements in the past decade. Tuscon, already having a decent bus system, has a modest 3.9-mile light rail project slated to be completed late this year.

So I have some hope for public transit in the US as a whole.

[jstalin]

Many people think that limiting "competition" and forcing people to use their preferred method of public transit is a legitimate public policy goal. The intent is not to provide efficient transit that works well for those who need it, the goal is to ensure that Very Large Capital Projects get the federal funding they need to fill the gigantic money-losing gap they create.

[brown9-2]

I'm curious if you could link to any stories about Google's or Apple's (or other company's) offers to help the public system? Not that I don't believe this, but I am curious to read more about the topic.